5) Writing Fresh Content For 7 Cups: Guidelines
Through this discussion, we will discuss the basic guidelines for writing fresh content articles for 7 Cups.
The following are some general guidelines to keep in mind:
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Include an Article Sub-headline/header: one sentence, no punctuation at the end, this subheader goes under the title that encapsulates the piece -- (We will discuss this soon)
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Article Length: 1000-2000 words.
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Break up the article using Subheadings.
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The article should not be previously published.
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Include at least one non-copyrighted photo, at least 1200 pixels x 630 pixels in size (from Unsplash, etc). If one is not provided, it will be sourced for you!
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For any facts or studies quoted, please provide sources as footnotes/listed at the end of your article.
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For quotes from other professionals, consider back-linking to their professional websites, research-work links, etc. All articles will go through an editing process for optimization after submission as well!
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Submit your Article as a Google Doc link to ayesha@7cups.com / Link it to the dashboard with editing access if provided a dashboard/ OR use the required form for submission as per what you have been guided on protocol.
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You will be informed once your article has been published so that you can share and promote it as well! We will also share it on 7 Cups social media accounts.
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When provided, please ensure that you include as many keywords, these keyword insights can also be used to guide the outline of your article.
Please feel free to share any questions about these guidelines by replying to this thread.
@SoulfullyAButterfly
The guidelines were very well-put, I understood all of them.
Except I have a query regarding one of the points:
Writing an article with quotations from reliable sources.
Are we allowed to take data from Wikipedia pages which is an already published/second-hand source or are we only supposed to take the data from journals, etc?
@Textingpals you can use other sources apart from journals/research articles - I generally suggest avoiding Wikipedia though. As for quotations, you are welcome to reach out to experts or for instance a person who has experienced the topic to add interest/a unique way of presenting information. When quoting facts, it is better to use websites that base these on research, for example the WHO, CDC, or APA.
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Right because Wikipedia gets entries from anyone and isn't as credible. For; example I can make an entry about something or someone and it will be completely in my opinion without any credibility, correct?
@SoulfullyAButterfly points are noted and it is very clear! :)
What are keywords and where in the article should they be placed? I want to use books as well as articles from Google Scholar is this okay? Should the footnotes be in APA? I’ll look into Unsplash. How do I break the article using subheadings? Do you mean different subject matter?I don’t know what subheading/header actually are.
@WhiteRoses25 thank you for your questions!
- The subheadline or header is a summary of the article, and supports the Article Title. For example, for this article, the title is "How to Set Healthy Boundaries With Your Folks" and the subheadline is "A Mini-Guide for Strong, Young Adults Who Need More Independence"
- Subheadings are just other headings that help us breakdown an article into different sections. For example, in the above article, "Types of Boundaries", "Why Am I Having Trouble with my Parents?" etc. are different subheadings.
- We discussed Keywords and how we can conduct Keyword Research in this CDM discussion. Keywords help optimize content and can help guide us on what we can consider including in our article outline/completed article. You are welcome to conduct keyword research to help with your article writing as well as the SEO process, and later on, if you choose to join the Content Team after graduating, some assignments have a guide on what keywords can be used.
- Yes, you are welcome to any sources for your content, books and Google Scholar are perfectly alright.
- APA is a preferred format, yes, especially for research studies. Consider just listing the major ones at the end of the article. You can hyperlink some others within the body.
Thanks you for helping me. Very grateful!
Thanks, I have read the guidelines and I'll do my best to stay within them.
When I was in college I had such trouble with sources, citing them was such a problem. After I was a almost a senior is when I got. Lol. I guess the best advice I have on sources is to try to use the most credible sites you can. I usually sick with the most popular. Hope that helps.
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Thanks for sharing those amazing tips with us, Soul! Super excited about the practical part of the course 💜
i understand , thank you !
Hello, I am now a student of clean development.
When I write the article, can I quote it? Or is it just my personal opinion? When I complete it, where do I send the link?
@Zahraa000
Hi Zahra, yes you can quote about you as a student. And if you haven't already, please post your portfolio here
And this is the form: please choose to submit topic approval first and to submit the article using the same form (options on the form)
Feel free to PM for more information and all the best!
@SoulfullyAButterfly thanks a lot for this useful information! :)
I would love to contribute interesting and meaningful articles for 7cups, where do I send them and who are the mentors I can get in touch with.
@RideaRainbow Emailing you today but you can also send in your drafts for article submissions to ayesha@7cups.com
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
@SoulfullyAButterfly
Hi soul. Thank you for sharing this with us. Have a few questions:
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For any facts or studies quoted, please provide sources as footnotes/listed at the end of your article - does this involve referencing and if so in which way?
How do we find out how many megapixels an image is soul?
@GoldenRuleJG Hi there, yes, it includes references - you can use APA or just list the websites you used. We don't always publish them so in-text citations/hyperlinking is also a good idea in the case of research.
Mega-pixels are usually listed in an image's properties when we are downloading (on Unsplash this comes with Small/Medium/Large sizes and I usually pick Medium to also get a good size). You can also consider checking the properties of a photo to determine its resolution and dimensions.
@SoulfullyAButterfly perfect - thank you for confirming ❤️😊